Witch Hazel
by jackieness
Summary: Lauretta Demoire is starting her first year at Hogwarts with James Potter and everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Trying to learn who she is isn't made any easier by her best friends pranking ways and a dangerous plan from death eaters. ON HIATUS
1. The Hogwarts Express

**A/N: If you got a massive amount of emails because of this story, I'm sorry. I'm a perfectionist and I felt that I needed to fix some stuff so yeah. Sorry again.**

**The Hogwarts Express**

A small strawberry blonde girl named Lauretta Demoire sat down on a bench in King's Cross station with a look of utter defeat on her face. She stared at her ticket with her long curls curtaining her vision past it. Platform 9 and ¾. _How on earth am I supposed to get to a platform that doesn't exist? _she thought.

"C'mon Mum! The train leaves in 10 minutes!" said a boy with dark shaggy hair and a trolley with an owl in a cage perched on top.

"I know! I know!" said a red haired lady who Lauretta assumed was his mum.

"How do we get to platform 9 and ¾? I don't see any signs for it." asked the boy.

"That's because there aren't any signs for it!" his mum retorted. "Now hurry along or we'll miss it!"

Lauretta perked up. These people were wizards! She stood up, stumbling over her trolley, and walked sheepishly over to the wizard family, unsure of what to expect. There was five of them. The father had dark hair that stuck out in all different directions, like both his sons, and bright green eyes. The daughter had fiery red hair like her mum.

"Excuse me, do you know where platform 9 and ¾ is?" Lauretta asked timidly.

"Oh, it's just through that brick wall!" the father called out.

"Through that brick wall?" she asked.

"Yes. It's best to run if your nervous," answered the mum. "Go on now train leaves in 8 minutes!"

"Umm ok…" she said and before she could think about it she was being pushed towards the brick wall. Expecting to crash, she closed her eyes and braced herself. But when she didn't crash she opened her eyes to see the gleaming golden letters that read Hogwarts Express. Behind her the family she was talking to appeared out of nowhere. All along the side of the train kids were sticking their heads out the windows to say good bye to their parents and Lauretta couldn't help but wish hers were there with her.

The family that was behind her had left and were standing by the train with the other parents, except for the oldest boy, and Lauretta decided she should probably board the train now. She handed her luggage over to a man with a wand out that was packing up everyone's belongings into a luggage hold beneath the floor of the train, that looked slightly larger than it should have. Then she gave her ticket to a woman by the door of the train, and proceeded to board.

She walked nervously down the aisles with her shoulder bag, looking for an empty compartment but to no avail. Every compartment was full of young witches and wizards smiling and eating unfamiliar sweets. Finally towards the end of the train she found a compartment that only had 2 boys that looked like first years in it and decided that if she had to sit anywhere it should at least be with people her age. Both of them looked extremely excited but scared out of their mind, exactly how she felt. One of them was the boy that Lauretta had walked in with and the other boy had curly light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Is it alright if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full." she asked nervously.

The boys looked at her.

"Sure," said the boy with the curly light brown hair. "I'm Mathery Brenning, but you can call me Mat, and that's James Potter," he said pointing at the boy across from him.

"Hi Mat and James. I'm Lauretta Demoire." she smiled and sat down after throwing her bag onto the rack above the seats.

"What house do you want to be sorted into? Mat and I were just talking about it. I want to be in Gryffindor like my parents," said James.

"And I don't care what house I'm in as long as its not Slytherin," said Mat.

"House?" she asked stupidly.

"You were muggle born weren't you," Mat said.

"Muggle?" she asked still stupidly.

"It means a non magical person," answered James "Were you?"

"Oh umm… Well, to be honest, I have no idea."

"How can you have no idea? I mean they raised you, didn't they?" asked Mat.

"No. Not exactly… I never met my dad… I suppose he could have been a wizard. Every time I tried to ask my mum about him she would start crying… She was never the motherly type… Guess she was just massively depressed after my dad…passed…" she said solemnly with tears starting to well up. "I never saw her do any magic when she was alive though so she was probably a muggle."

"So your parents are…?" asked James.

"Yeah… they're dead…" she answered quietly.

"I'm sorry," James said.

"Its alright…" she sniffled and wiped her eyes. "So what are these said 'houses'?" she asked to change the subject. They were looking at her differently, almost pitifully, and Lauretta didn't need, or want, their pity.

"Houses are like your family while your at Hogwarts. Well that's what my mum says anyway." said James.

"There are 4 different houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Mat added.

"So which house is the best?"

"Gryffindor," James and Mat answered simultaneously.

"It's for the 'brave at heart,'" James explained. "Ravenclaw is for the smart people, there's never been a dark wizard that didn't come out of Slytherin, and everyone who isn't brave, smart, or evil is in Hufflepuff."

"Well I'm smart I suppose, but not that smart. I like to think that I'm brave and I'm pretty sure I'm not evil so it looks like Gryffindor is the way to go," she reasoned.

"Wise choice young grasshopper," said James with a joking grin.

"Sweets from the trolley!" called a lady from the hall pushing a cart full of sweets Lauretta had never seen.

"Yes! The lunch trolley's here!" said Mat excitedly. He jumped out of his seat and practically ran to the compartment door. "I'll have a pack of Droobles and 2 chocolate frogs, please."

"Can I have a chocolate frog, a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and some Fizzing Whizbees?" James asked next. "Want anything Lauretta?"

"Umm… I don't know. What do you fancy?" she replied.

"Well the pumpkin pasties are rather good, not my favorite though." Mat said.

"What's your favorite?"

"Droobles. The best chewing gum in the world!" Mat grinned. "They never pop or lose their flavor."

"I prefer Fizzing Whizbees personally," James said as he sat back down. "But I don't think you'd like them."

"And what makes you think that?" Lauretta inquired.

"I don't know. You just seem more like a liquorice wand."

"I seem more like a liquorice wand?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "And in what world does that make sense?"

"Mine." he said quietly.

Mat and Lauretta laughed. James turned a deep red then pretended to fumble with something in his bag.

"Well then," she stood up and walked to the lunch trolley. "Can I have a Fizzing Whizbee, a liquorice wand, and a pack of Droobles, please?"

"That'll be 7 knuts and a sickle then."

She took out a small leather bag from her pocket and counted out the coins then handed them to the lady. "Thank you," Lauretta said as she received her sweets.

"Now then. You say I seem more like a liquorice wand than a Fizzing Whizbee?" she opened up the liquorice wand package and waved the wand around. "What does it do?"

"Nothing! It's just a fake wand that tastes like licorice!" laughed James.

"And I seem more like a fake wand than a Fizzing Whizbee?" she said fuming.

"Well its not just a fake wand. It also tastes like licorice!" said Mat.

James laughed and gave Mat a high five. Lauretta rolled her eyes.

"And what does a Fizzing Whizbee do that's so unlike me?"

"Allow me to show you!" said James as he ripped the top off his package of Fizzing Whizbees. He popped one into his mouth, chewed for a moment, and began floating out of his seat.

"Well that looks like fun! Are you saying I'm not fun?" asked Lauretta angrily.

"No, that's not what I was referring to at all!" said James with a stupid smile as he pretended to lay down in the air. _He's such a git_, she thought.

"Then what were you referring too?" she asked angry still.

"Well for one thing you can't float." he said.

With that she opened up her package of Fizzing Whizbees and popped one into her mouth. As she chewed it felt like someone turned off the gravity and she left the seat of the bench. "Who can't float now huh? That's right, Mat!" she said pointing at Mat who had his hands raised guiltily.

James and Lauretta laughed and after a while Mat joined in too. James' Fizzing Whizbee wore off and he fell on his butt in the middle of the compartment which made Mat and Lauretta laugh even harder. Then Lauretta moved over to her seat thinking hers would wear off soon too and landed back on it shortly after she had done so. Finally their laughing fit ended after what seemed like hours. Lauretta smiled. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time

"You're all right Lauretta. You know that? So are you Mat." said James panting.

"Wow! There it is! It's even better than I thought it would be!" Mat said pointing out the window at Hogwarts.

They all rushed to the window to get a better look at it.

"Wow. I can't believe we really get to go to school here! This is incredible!" said Lauretta.

"Yeah it is, isn't it," said James with wide eyes.

"We should probably get into our robes now," said Mat after they stared at it for a moment.

They all reached into the racks above their seats and pulled out the robes from their bags. Then they quickly slipped on their robes so they could go back to the window and absorb more of the castle as they rolled towards it.


	2. Journey to the Sorting Hat

**Disclaimer: **Forgot to put this in the first chapter. Woops. Well the day I own Harry Potter will be the day 1+1=3, which sadly will never be. Woah that rhymed! All I own is the characters I created and the plot. The rest belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling. Ok enough with my drabbles. You have my permission to read.

**Journey to the Sorting Hat**

The train rumbled and slowed to a stop at Hogsmeade station. They slowly made their way out of the train and into the station where they saw a very large man holding up a lantern yelling, "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!"

"That's Hagrid!" said James as they walked towards him.

"You know him?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's a good friend of my dad's," he explained.

"James!" said Hagrid as they neared him. "Yeh look jus' like Harry! Although yeh got yer mother's eyes."

"Hi Hagrid! Your even bigger than I thought you would be!" said James with his neck craned to look at his face.

"Ha ha! I see yeh got yer granddad's sense o' humor too," said Hagrid. "Well this'll be an interesting year! Firs' years! Firs' years!"

More small people came towards Hagrid and then he called, "Alrigh' looks like everyone's 'ere. Lets go to the boats!"

They all followed Hagrid down a trail that led towards a huge, dark, glassy lake with some boats towards the shore nearest them. They hiked a little further and arrived at the rocky shore.

"3 to 4 in a boat," said Hagrid.

"Let's get in a boat together," said Mat to Lauretta and James.

"Ok," said James. "There's an empty one in the back! Lets get that one."

"Ok!" said Lauretta and Mat in unison.

Mat and James climbed into the boat first and then helped Lauretta in. Once everyone had gotten into there boats they started to move themselves by magic. Every once in a while she would hear herself, and occasionally James or Mat, gasping at the beauty of Hogwarts.

In the distance Lauretta thought she saw something move, but disregarded it. They passed under a bridge in their boat and saw the quidditch pitch for the fist time. She could of sworn James whispered wow as they approached it. A few minutes went by and she thought she saw it again, closer this time. She thought nothing of it though and returned to ogling at the castle. The large turrets made Hogwarts look like something out of a fairy tale. Then about 20 minutes later she heard a quiet splash by the side of the boat and quickly looked over to see something that looked like a slimy fin dip back into the water.

"What was that," she said.

"What?" asked Mat.

"I thought I saw something, next to the boat." she said looking at Mat.

Lauretta looked over the side of the boat again, but didn't see anything except the reflections of the many lanterns and the slight rippling of the water from the boats.

"I don't see anything," said James.

"I don't either," said Mat.

"It was probably just your imagination." James said.

"Yeah… I guess…" She was sure she had seen something in the water. She returned to looking at the castle but she knew something fishy was going on.

Shortly ahead of them, someone screamed. They looked at each other then back ahead wide eyed.

Then, out of nowhere, a giant squid jumped out of the water right in front of their boat, tipping it over and throwing them all into the icy water. The lantern went out in the water and it was very dark. Lauretta pulled her wand out from her boot and pointed it at the squid that was now jumping around them in a circle. Mat followed suit and James swam over to the boat and to try to tip it back over.

"Anyone know any spells?" she asked through chattering teeth.

"Try _expelliarmus_," said James in a strained voice as he tried to lift the boat. "My dad's an auror. He says he uses it all the time."

The squid jumped again and she yelled "_Expelliarmus_!" A flash of red light erupted from the tip of her wand and hit the squid just below its eye. The squid flew back about a foot but continued to circle them coming closer and closer.

"Try doing it with me!" she told Mat.

"_Expelliarmus_!" they yelled. Red light erupted from both their wands and hit the squid in the middle of a jump. This time the squid was thrown back further from the double strength of the spell. But still, it came back circling them closer than before and slapped the boat James was still trying to flip over with its tentacle, crushing it.

"James!" screamed Lauretta. She swam over to him narrowly avoiding another tentacle. He was barely floating on the surface with blood pooling around him from his arms and face. "James," she said again. She put her quivering arms under his back to keep him afloat.

The squid turned around and came charging towards them, like an angry bull. She pulled out her wand arm from under James and pointed it up at the fast coming squid. "_Expelliarmus_!" she yelled slowing it down long enough to pull herself and James out of the way.

A few moments later he fluttered his eyelids and looked up at her. "Lauretta," he whispered. A tentacle slapped the water near them. Mat yelled _expelliarmus_ again and a flash of red light followed it. James came slightly to his senses and was able to tread water. Mat swam over to them.

"We need to get away from this squid," he said.

"Thank you captain obvious," James said sarcastically, blood still pouring from a deep gash on his cheek. Mat glared at him. A tentacle swung around from behind them and hit Lauretta in the head.

Everything went black. She felt like she was falling and then she saw a small light in the distance. She looked at it and it got closer. But no, it wasn't a light. It was a picture. A moving picture! It kept getting closer and closer and then she fell into it. She was in her old house in the past, when her mother was alive.

"Mum?" she whispered. "I'm sorry I asked you about daddy."

Her mum was sitting in the corner crying her eyes out.

"Please stop crying," she tried. "I'll make cookies! Chocolate chip! Those are your favorite!"

She cried even harder. "No, no, Lauretta. You don't have to make me cookies."

"Will you stop crying then, Mum?"

"I'll try. Can you get me a piece of paper and a pen? I need to write something. It's important."

She ran to the bookcase in the dining room and pulled out some paper and a pen from a basket on one of the shelves.

"Here you are Mum," she said holding out whet she asked for as she walked towards her.

"Thank you sweetie," she replied, regaining her composure and sitting down at the dining room table.

"What did you need to write?" Lauretta asked.

She didn't answer but Lauretta looked at the paper. It read, _The Last Will and Testament_ _of Murelle Demoire_. She remembered this now. This was the day before her mum died!

"Mum why are you writing your will?" she heard herself ask.

"Never hurts to be prepared."

"But it says your _last_ will. You don't think your going to change your mind?"

"No Lauretta, I've given this quite a bit of thought and I'm sure about it. Now why don't you go to bed? It's getting late."

"Your trying to get rid of me? Aren't you?"

"Lauretta! Go to bed!" she yelled.

That was the only time her mother had ever used some form of authority towards her.

The room swirled and she opened her eyes to find that she was in someone's arm on the surface of the water watching a flurry of red lights flash all around her. Mat was holding her with one arm, his wand drawn with the other. A red liquid was surrounding her. Then she remembered where she was. They were both trying uselessly to distract the squid so they could escape now.

"The was spell is stronger when Mat and I both did it, so why don't we all try!" she said. Mat looked surprised that she was awake but they both nodded and held up their wands. Lauretta joined them.

"There," said Mat pointing behind them away from the castle. The squid jumped very ungracefully out of the water and they pointed their wands at it.

"_Expelliarmus_!" all three of them yelled. Red light burst from their wands and hit the squid in nearly the same spot. The squid was blown back further than all the other times and smacked into the water. It jumped out of the water again but this time it was pointed away from them! They all smiled at each other exchanged high fives.

"Now, I hate to be a kill joy, but how do we get to the castle?" said Lauretta. "Our boat's busted and I don't see the others."

"Looks like we'll have to swim back," said Mat.

"Oh no. We're not swimming," said James. "It's freezing! And what if that squid comes back?"

"Then we'll swim back to shore and walk!" said Lauretta. They both agreed and began swimming back to shore. Lauretta didn't think they had been out this far when they were on the boat. Her limbs ached from swimming and her skin was burning from the cold.

Finally they reached the shore and started walked towards the castle. Everything she wore felt fifty times heavier and she was still blisteringly cold. James and Lauretta were still bleeding very heavily, though James was worse off, but at this even Mat was covered in blood. They were all quiet as they walked back but it wasn't the awkward kind of quiet. They were all just too tired to talk. Lauretta was grateful for the silence. The walk was extremely long and it seemed like hours before the reached the gate. It was open and they walked in.

They entered the castle through the huge wooden front doors, robes dripping on the cold stone floor. Somehow they managed to find the Great Hall and the chatter silenced as they walked in. It was warm in there and dessert was just disappearing from the table. It seems they missed the sorting and the feast.

"They're yeh are!" called Hagrid. He walked down from the staff table towards them. "I was worried sick when they called yer name and yeh didn't come up. Blimey! What happened to yeh?"

"G-Giant squid," said a shivering James. Everyone around them started whispering.

"That ol' Norma's always been a nasty 'un. But I never knew 'er to attack students!"

"S'all right," said James still shivering.

"Well it appears that these first years need be sorted!" said a professor that Lauretta didn't see coming. "My name is Professor McGonagall. I'm the head of the Gryffindor house and I teach transfiguration."

They followed Professor McGonagall to the end of the Great Hall. She waved her wand and a scruffy looking hat on a stool appeared out of nowhere.

"Now after you get sorted go sit at your house table and I'll have a prefect escort you to the hospital wing. Now," she pulled out a very long list. "Ah yes. Brenning, Mathery."

He gulped and sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. It came past his eyes. He just sat there for a moment and then the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers as he walked over to it and sat down.

"Demoire, Lauretta," called Professor McGonagall once they calmed down.

Her shivers seemed double once she heard her name echo through the hall. She walked toward the stool through the uncomfortable silence. The hat was placed on her head and her vision was cut off. Then the hat started talking to her.

"Hmm… Smart girl you are… That's a good quality for Ravenclaw… Ooh and also a good compromiser… That's a good quality for Hufflepuff… Your past is scarred by those of Slytherin… Ah but you are brave and can use these qualities well in the face of danger so you must be GRYFFINDOR!"

She heard the last word echo around the hall so she was sure that was the only word the hat had said aloud. What did it mean, her past was scarred by those of Slytherin? The hat was pulled from her head and the Gryffindor table burst into cheers again. She walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Mat.

"Hi I'm Mary Stuer," said the girl sitting across from me. She had long flowing black hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hi Mary. I'm Lauretta Demoire… Don't worry I'm not usually covered in blood."

"Ok I hoped not," she laughed. "Did you guys really fight a giant squid?"

"Yeah… I'll tell you about that later though I'm- I'm feeling light headed." Her vision started to blur and she put her hands on the table to steady herself. She blinked and she saw an unfamiliar room flash before her eyes.

"Potter, James," called Professor McGonagall quieting down everyone. She heard everyone start to whisper his name and briefly wondered why. She made a quick mental note to ask him about that.

James sat on the stool and Lauretta thought she heard Gryffindor but she wasn't sure because her the room was swirling around her. She closed her eyes to try to steady herself and the same unfamiliar room appeared before her. She opened them and it was still there, like her brain was put inside someone else's head.

She was standing in a large room with a long dark table running down the middle. All along the sides were people dressed darkly sitting in large chairs. At the head of the table sat a very blonde man who seemed to have a permanent sneer on his face. The clock chimed and he began speaking.

"Don't you miss the days when purebloods ruled?" he said slowly. A few people verbally agreed. "When we were superior to the mudbloods and muggles!" he continued. "Now we have to treat them as equals when they are not! _We _were the ones who were chosen to possess magical power hundreds of years ago! _We_ should not have to pretend that mudbloods just simply came upon magical power! They stole it! They are nothing more than greedy, filthy thieves! They are causing a depletion in our own reservoirs of magic!" he finished angrily.

A few people jeered at this.

"What exactly are you proposing, Malfoy?" said a voice from the back of the room.

"I am proposing, a revolt. Maybe even a war depending on how they all react. I say we show those mudbloods the power of a true wizard. Make them wish they never stole our magic."

Some more people jeered but were cut off quickly by a woman near Malfoy speaking.

"But Lucius, have you forgotten? They brought us down once with the Dark Lord. What makes you think they can't do it again?"

"This time it will be different. That fool Dumbledore slowed us down. But now that he's out of the way things will be much smoother. And what would the Dark Lord think if we had just given up his cause? I feel he would be quite disappointed in us. Don't you agree?"

"But the ministry has only gotten stronger if anything!" said another woman quickly before the jeering could commence.

"We have yet to make a plan but when we do, we shall make sure it's fool proof. For now just remember this: Darkness will rise, those of filthy blood shall suffer. Beware of lightness, for all shall plunder. The purest will thrive, all others shall live in shame. Do not try to caress them; for they are to blame_._"

Some people in the back cheered and someone ran outside. A bright flash of green light came from the window and more people cheered.

"Now, now my death eaters. If this just the dark mark is exciting you now I'd hate to see how you'd react to our soon coming victory. Mark my words: we will get our comeuppance and those who cross our path will be sorry they did!"

**-X-**

**A/N: Long chapter! _And_ plot development! I usually end up writing stories with almost no plot so I'm quite proud of this. And yes I know, its totally cliché to make your character a seer, but this was the only way I could make the plot work. Hee hee comeuppance is a funny word(: I get distracted so easily… Let me know what you think! I enjoy criticism!**


	3. Nargles Don't Exist

**Disclaimer: **The day I own Harry Potter will be the day someone discovers the cure for stupidity, which sadly will never be. For everyone who suffers of stupidity, I am afraid it is permanent. I suffer of it too, so you may join the club. All I own is the characters I created and the plot. The rest belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

**Nargles Don't Exist**

"_Darkness will rise, those of filthy blood shall suffer. Beware of lightness, for all shall plunder. The purest will thrive, all others shall live in shame. Do not try to caress them; for they are to blame_."

Her vision began to blur and spin again. She closed her eyes and opened them to another unfamiliar room. She was straight up in what looked like a bed. It was dark. She raised her hand up to feel her forehead. There was cold beads of sweat on it. She sat up a looked around. James was lying asleep in a bed to the left of her and Mat was to her right. A woman wearing light blue robes and an apron was staring at her from the end of the bed, quivering. Her face was very pale as though she'd just come face to face with a dementor.

"Hello. Umm... I don't mean to sound rude, but where am I?" asked Lauretta.

"Your- your in the hospital wing," she said shakily.

"And who are you?"

"M-Madam Pomfrey, the school's healer." she added for Lauretta's confused expression.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes! Yes, just got a little fright that's all," she said quickly.

"What gave you a fright?"

"My, you sure ask a lot of questions."

"Yes, but will you answer them?"

"No," Lauretta looked disappointed. "Well I-I guess I'd better…" she added. "Someone carried you in here from the Great Hall. Said you fainted. I was just coming in to give you treat your head wounds and-and you were sitting straight up and your eyes were glassy, like you were here but not, and-and then you started talking in this terrible voice about darkness rising and suffering and… It was awful!" she cried.

A few minutes went by with neither of them saying anything. It was the awkward kind of silence this time.

"I did?" she said finally.

"Yes… Well how do you feel?" said Madam Pomfrey to change the subject.

"Tired."

"Well you do need your rest. I'll give you a sleeping potion." she said whirling out of then room. A few seconds later she returned with a cup full of a murky looking liquid. "Drink up."

She put the glass to her mouth and took a sip.

"Ugh. This tastes awful," she complained.

"Just drink it. You'll feel better."

She put the glass to her mouth again and took a larger gulp. Her eyelids began to feel heavy and she feel back on her pillow, asleep before she hit it.

-**X**-

Sunlight was pouring through a window towards the ceiling of the hospital wing and gently warming Lauretta's face. She lazily opened her eyes and examined her surroundings. James was still asleep to her left but Mat was gone. Madam Pomfrey was waving her wand over one of James' arms. Madam Pomfrey no longer looked like she had seen living death and the color had returned to her face.

She glanced over in Lauretta's direction. "Oh good! You're up," she said. As she finished up with James' arm. "How do you feel?"

"I feel much better," her stomach growled. "I'm rather hungry though. Could I go down to breakfast?"

"Oh alright," she said reluctantly. "Some food could do you good."

"Thanks," she said hopping gingerly out of bed. "Oh and one more thing."

"Yes?" she asked turning around.

"Is James going to be all right?"

"Yes. He lost a lot of blood you know, as did you, but he lost quite a bit more… He should wake up in a few hours."

"Alright. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. And I'm sorry I gave you a fright," she added hastily. "Heck that would've given me a fright too."

She walked out of the hospital wing and wandered around the castle until she saw the familiar oak doors that led to the Great Hall. The chatter silenced once again as she walked in, but this time after only a few awkward seconds, three of the tables erupted in cheers, excluding Slytherin of course. Lauretta smiled. _I wonder what ridiculous story they came up with,_ she thought as she walked over to Gryffindor table. She found a seat next to Mat and sat down.

"Hi Mat," she said cheerily. "Why weren't you in the hospital wing this morning?"

"Hey Lo. That should be your nickname!" he said excitedly.

"Ha ha! I like it," she smiled while piling food onto her plate. "So where were you?"

"Well I _was_ there Madam Pomfrey healed my wounds rather quickly. They weren't too bad. And then she released me after you started talking in that creepy possessed voice." he said nonchalantly. "So what was going on with that?"

"I'm not really sure," she said honestly. "All I remember is my vision swirling and next thing you know I was waking up with a cold sweat in the hospital wing."

"That's weird," he said.

"Yeah… I'm pretty sure that's not all that happened though… Do you remember what I said?" she asked through a mouth of pancakes.

"_Darkness will rise, those of filthy blood shall suffer. Beware of lightness, for all shall plunder. The purest will thrive, all others shall live in shame. Do not try to caress them; for they are to blame._" he recited. "It sounds like a prophecy to me."

"Yeah, it does… How did you remember all that?"

"Well its not really something you forget. Watching a person talk like their possessed… I'll be lucky if I can ever get picture out of my mind. It was really creepy Lo."

"Sorry," she said softly.

"It's alright I mean-" he was cut off by someone standing up and speaking to the students. He had medium length white-ish grey hair pulled back from his forehead that was covered by a quite ridiculous purple pointed hat with outlines of magical creatures glowing in all different colors. His clear green eyes were framed by thick round glasses and he wore bright blue robes.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a pleasant sleep. We will be having a free day today," he paused for the many cheers that followed from all the tables. "And begin classes tomorrow," he paused again for the many moans. "Your headmasters will be handing you your schedules. Have a nice free day! And watch out for nargles! They get feisty in this weather!"

"Who's that?" she asked Mat.

"I don't know," he replied.

"That's the headmaster, Professor Latryman," Said a girl from across the table who Lauretta recognized to be Mary. "He's a bit loony… Believes in nargles."

"So they don't exist?" she asked.

"Of course not!" answered Mat. "That's preposterous!"

"I was just asking… No need to have a hissy fit…"

Mat glared at her and she sunk a little on the bench.

"Demoire and Brenning," said Professor McGonagall coming out of nowhere again. She held a large stack of parchment. "Here are your schedules."

"Thank you," said Lauretta examining it.

"Stuer - your schedule." she said handing Mary a piece of parchment over the table.

"So we're all curious - what really happened with the squid?" asked Mary after she had examined hers as well. "People started making up stories that you punched it in the face with a super strength potion and it got mad and tried to kill James. I know ridiculous right?"

"Ha ha! That's not even close," said Mat. The people around them leaned in to hear better, curious as well. The tension that had been present before vanished as they relived the story, exaggerating every now and then so now instead of trying to slap them with its tentacles, it was pouncing on them with bared fangs trying to shred them to pieces. And instead of sending the squid running by all three of them casting the _expelliarmus_ spell, Mat single handedly defeated it by summoning the sword of Godric Grffindor and chopping off one of its arms when it lifted Lauretta out of the water and tried to eat her, which earned him a glare from Lauretta. After they finished the story, a crowd had formed around them and everyone had their jaws dropped to the floor.

"Wow. You guys are hard core," said a boy with dirty blonde hair sitting a few sets down from Mary, breaking the silence. After he said this, the crowd around them started cheering again.

After they had quieted down Lauretta asked, "So where do we sleep and stuff?"

"OH! You guys haven't been to the common room yet!" said Mary. "C'mon! I'll show you!" She ran around the table to them and pulled them out of the Great Hall. She led them up stair cases that occasionally moved while explaining how they like to change and corridors with moving pictures on the walls. Mat explained how Lauretta's new nickname is Lo, dubbed most graciously by himself, and Lauretta laughed at him. Finally they arrived at the portrait of a fat lady dressed in a pink cocktail dress.

"Ok here's the entrance to the Gryffindor common room," she explained.

"But this is a-" she began but was cut off by the lady in the portrait speaking.

"Password?" she asked.

"Hippogriff talons," replied Mary. The portrait swung open to reveal a large, beautiful room with a huge fireplace. There was crimson red and gold couches and chairs all around the room and a Gryffindor banner hanging above the fire.

"So this is the common room! The girls dorms are in the door on the left and the boys are on the right. C'mon Lo! Your in my dorm!" Mary said pulling her by the wrist through one of the doors and up a staircase. They stopped outside another door and Mary opened it. Inside was a round room with five 4-poster beds. There was sheer crimson red curtains hanging around each of them except the bed nearest the door to the right which had very thick looking curtains. She saw her luggage next to the bed that was next to the bed with the very thick curtains. There was also two other girls in the room talking animatedly about something or other.

"So this is my bed?" asked Lauretta walking over to the bed next to her luggage.

"Yep," answered Mary plopping down on the bed next to hers, that had normal curtains, which Lauretta assumed to be Mary's.

"That's Aspen Palomer," she said pointing to one of the girls. She had tan skin, long, shiny, dark brown hair that fell past her waist and resilient green eyes.

"Hi Aspen!" Lauretta smiled. "I'm Lauretta Demoire."

"I know. We've heard about your battle with the squid."

"If it involves punching it in the face, it's not true," said Lauretta.

"Well that story _did_ seem unlikely," she laughed.

"I'm Seraphine Trindle," said the girl standing next to Aspen. "But I prefer Sera," she explained. She had wavy, sandy brown hair that fell past her shoulders and kind hazel eyes.

"Hi, I'm still Lauretta," she said. Sera laughed.

"Do you guys know where Phoebe is?" asked Mary.

"No I haven't seen her since breakfast," answered Aspen.

"Yeah, she said she was going to the library. She's probably still there," continued Sera.

Lauretta looked at her watch. It was almost 10. "I think I'm going to go to the hospital wing to check on James," she said getting up. "Madam Pomfrey said he would wake up in a few hours a few hours ago."

"Alright. You have fun with that. I'll try to find Phoebe then," said Mary.

"Sounds like a plan."

She bounced down the stairs back into the common room.

"Mat!" He was sitting by the fire talking to three boys. One of them was the boy with the dirty blonde hair from breakfast.

"Oh hey Lo. What's up?" he asked turning towards her.

"I was just going to the hospital wing to check on James. Madam Pomfrey said he would be waking up around this time. Do you want to come?"

"Sure," he said getting up. "By the way these are my roommates Kearn, David, and Lorcan. James is the fifth."

"Hi everyone. C'mon Mat!" she said heading to the portrait hole. Mat followed.

They climbed out and walked in the direction they thought the hospital wing might be in. Eventually they managed to stumble upon it and they walked in to see James fully awake now.

Lauretta winced at the smell of hospital that lingered eerily in the room and thought about the last time she had been in one, other than this morning when she had not thought about how the hospital wing smelled being more worried about food. It was when her mum was dying. It was 3 months ago but it might as well have been yesterday, the pain felt so fresh. A flashback to the muggle hospital was tempting, but she tried to hold it off as James was walking towards them and the tears that were welling up were starting to blur her vision.

"Good timing. Madam Pomfrey just said I could leave," he said cheerily.

"That's great," Lauretta mused.

"Yeah. So did I miss much?" he asked paying no attention to the emotional battle taking place inside of her, from the invading memories of her dead mum.

"Not really," Mat answered also paying no attention to Lauretta's emotional state. "We have a free day today and classes start tomorrow. Oh and Lauretta's new nickname is Lo."

"Sweet," James glanced at Lauretta who was now quivering. The battle wasn't going too well. "Lauretta are you okay?" asked James finally noticing that she was an emotional train wreck.

"I'm just d-dandy," she replied without making eye contact as a hot tear rolled down her face.

"Okay," said James shrugging it off. "So what shenanigans should we get into today?" he asked with a devilish grin.

-**X**-

**A/N**: **Blaaahhhhhhh. Not my best chapter. Trying to get away from a Mary-Sue and I have created a grand scheme to do so :) And yes, I know the title for this chapter is completely random but I really couldn't think of a better one. Anyway, feel free to throw tomatoes or some other vegetable of your choice! And the curtains are of slight importance. Thought I'd let you know that. **

**If you hate my story and you feel like your review will make me sad, feel free to post it anyway so I can try to make you hate it less! Or you could always just stop reading it… But that is not advisable and can cause kidney malfunction. But I'm not a doctor, I'm just a Jackie who's more interested in Harry Potter than biology, so don't take my medical advice siriusly. (See what I did there ****xD ) Ok. I'm done.**

**Just kidding! See you next update! But figuratively, not literally, because that would be creepy… Very creepy indeed… Okay, bye! For real this time!**


	4. Detention

**Disclaimer: The day I own Harry Potter will be the day someone slams a revolving door shut, which sadly will never be. All I own is the characters I created and the plot. The rest belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.**

**Detention**

"James, this is stupid. Put down the fireworks before someone gets hurt," Lauretta said with a death glare. They were in an empty corridor on the second floor and James was attempting his first back to school prank at Hogwarts.

"I thought you hated being a kill joy! Tsk tsk," he shook his head in mock disbelief. She glared even more furiously at him.

"Don't make me get a certain prefect who just so happens to happens to be your cousin."

"Calm down Lauretta, No ones getting hurt." said James. "And please don't get Victoire. She'd be so disappointed."

"Don't worry I won't be getting her because your not setting off those fireworks!"

"Hate to agree, but yeah. Let it go before we get hurt," said Mat.

"Guys, no one's going to get hurt because these are _magic_ fireworks that aren't going to hurt anyone unless I tell them," James said smugly.

"And your not going to tell them, are you?" she asked with an eyebrow raised disapprovingly.

"Of course not. I've only been awake for 2 hours. I don't want to kill anyone yet."

"Yet?"

"Joking!" he said defensively.

"Where did you even get these?" she asked.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. My Uncle George's shop," said James nonchalantly.

"No way! That's your uncle's shop?" said Mat excitedly.

"Sure is," James bragged.

"That's so cool! So do you like get free stuff from there?" Mat asked.

"No, ol' Uncle George is a-"

"And he let you bring them here?" Lauretta said cutting him off.

"Sure did," said James turning back to her. "Practically encouraged me to. Someone needs to be head jokester around here and he said I had the Merlin given abilities to pull it off."

"So you just thought you'd waltz on in here and become head jokester then, did you?"

"I didn't think that! Lauretta, this is my destiny! It's what I was put on earth to do!"

She raised an eyebrow. "To set off some magic fireworks and become head jokester?"

"Yes, you finally understand! Now are you done making excuses?" asked James.

"Yeah I guess, but when you get detention don't come crying to me," she said crossing her arms.

James kneeled on the ground and tapped his wand on the pack of fireworks he had laid there. Instantly a giant, sparkling dragon shaped firework jumped out of the package with a loud bang and started bounding around the corridor and down a staircase. Then he tapped another and a glowing, red Ferris Wheel noisily rolled out and down a passage to the left of them. He tapped the last one and a sparkling octopus climbed out of the box and onto the ceiling, its suckers making a faint popping sound as it walked away, upside down.

"And now for the aftermath. My favorite part," said James sentimentally. Lauretta rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm going back to the common room," she said walking away.

"Oh no your not," said James pulling her back. "You've seen the crime committed and now stand as a possible threat. You have to stay here."

"Fine," she grumbled. "But if no one knows that it was you who set off the fireworks then no one's going to think your head jokester."

"Good point, good point," he murmured. "But you still have to stay here."

Above the noise of chaos the fireworks were causing, she heard footsteps echoing down the hall.

"Looks like I won't have to tell on you anyway," she said nudging James with her elbow. Professor McGonagall turned the corner and walked towards them with a death glare glued on her tight lined face.

"James Potter. You had something to do with these fireworks, didn't you?" she accused.

"No Professor. We heard a lot of noise coming from here, so we came trying to _find_ who did it," he answered as innocently as he could, which was utterly terrible. "And by the way, you look lovely today."

"Do not lie to me Potter. And flattery gets you nowhere," she replied coldly.

"Okay, so maybe we _did_ set off the fireworks," he admitted.

"Detention. All three of you, tonight and next week on Monday at 8 with Hagrid. And ten points from Gryffindor. Each. Maybe now you'll think before you set off fireworks in the corridor," she said, briskly walking away.

Mat and Lauretta glared at James, who avoided eye contact with them at all cost. Mat socked him in the arm and Lauretta just shook her head, fuming with anger. They walked back up to the portrait of the fat lady on the third floor silently.

"Password?"

"Hippogriff talons," answered Mat.

The portrait swung open and they walked into the common room.

"Lauretta!" Mary called from across the room. "I found Phoebe!"

"What a coincidence! James here found all three of us detention," she said with a glare at James, who acted like nothing happened. She walked over to Mary leaving Mat and James by the portrait hole.

"I'm sorry," Mary said.

"It's fine. So where is this Phoebe?"

"Right here!" sang a small girl behind Mary who had waist length, white - blonde hair and large cobalt blue eyes. "Phoebe Menulis," she said with a smile.

"No offense, but you don't really look like a Phoebe," Lauretta said. She didn't mean to sound rude but she was too angry with James to think clearly.

"That's alright. I get that a lot. But the name makes sense to me," Phoebe answered.

"How?"

"Well, 'Phoebe' means 'bright moon' in Hebrew, I believe. And 'Menulis' means moon in Lithuanian. My parents were born in Lithuania and they are too."

"Are what?" Lauretta asked.

"Menae," Phoebe said as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"What?"

"Menae," Lauretta looked confused so she launched into a full length explanation. "You'll be horribly confused if don't tell you everything so I guess I'll start at the beginning," she began.

"The moon was discovered hundreds of thousands of years ago by a witch who was fascinated by astronomy. She thought as she looked at it that a satellite with such grandeur ought to be properly lit so everyone could see it. So she looked through many spells and incantations to find the one that would eternally light up the moon. The one she found however, was very dark and mysterious magic. She cast the spell and it did what she had intended for it to do but it backfired weakening the spell on the moon so the whole thing can't glow for very long (which caused the phases) and was cast upon herself too, giving her all the properties of the mysterious moon as well (and also causing an outbreak in lycanthropy but that's a different story). The only thing that kept her from succumbing to the darkness of the spell was the humbleness behind the casting of the spell in the first place. She wanted to show the moon's beauty to everyone.

"Then she had fifty children who only had half of the genes from the backfired spell and instead of glowing eternally they would only glow when the moon was out and their mysteriousness would only be active during that same period of time. Her children were given the name Menae.

"But that's just a myth. Menae could very well just be a genetic mutation," Phoebe explained.

"Wait what do you mean, mysteriousness?" asked Lauretta.

"Well you'll have to wait until night time for that."

"Fine," she said stubbornly.

"Trust me Lo, it's worth seeing in person," Mary said rejoining the conversation.

-**X**-

Lauretta and her roommates walked down to dinner earlier than they normally would because they knew Lauretta had detention later that night. They sat down at the end of the table and Mat joined them when he came in. Obviously he was still peeved at James too.

"Merlin! Phoebsy- Your glowing! Literally!" Mat exclaimed, flabbergasted. And Phoebe was indeed glowing.

"Phoebsy! I've never had a nickname before!" she said excitedly.

"Well not to brag, but I _am_ king of nicknames," he bragged.

"Oh please, don't flatter yourself," Aspen said.

"Aww, Pensy, don't be jealous! See I just gave you a nickname too!"

"You haven't given Mary an I nicknames yet," Sera pointed out.

"I know Ser. BOOM! Nickname! Just like that."

"What about Mary?" Lauretta asked.

"Mary, Mary, Mary… that's a tough one… Phoebs is glowing!" he said to pull the attention away from himself.

"The moon is out," she replied nonchalantly. "I'm a Menae."

"Oh yeah! I've heard of those! So do you glow like every night?" Mat asked.

"Not when there's a new moon. But other than that, yeah pretty much."

"Ooh show them your special talent!" cried Mary.

"Okay!" she disappeared.

"Woah! You can turn invisible?" asked Lauretta.

She reappeared. "Not invisible. Into nothing! Like a ghost, but invisible-er," she said sticking her hand through the table. They all ogled at her while she laughed.

"So like can every Menae do that?" Lauretta asked.

"No, it's different for everyone," she explained. "My dad acts like a human deluminater. And my Granddad can make a person go crazy just by looking them in the eye! Ironically though, he ended up working in the psycho ward at St. Mungo's."

Mat glanced at his watch and looked up at Lauretta. "It's almost 8."

"Shoot. We gotta go!" she said standing up.

"Bye! Have fun in detention!" Mary called to them. Lauretta and Mat smiled weakly and waved as they started making their way out of the Great Hall.

"Should we get James?" Mat asked.

"Nah. It's his fault we even have to go," Lauretta said.

"Good point."

"Where do you think Hagrid is?" Lauretta asked as they reached the door.

"I'm not sure. Ronan said he was the gamekeeper, so lets look outside."

They found the front doors and Mat held it open for Lauretta.

"After you," he said.

"Thank you kind sir," she replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied more sarcastically.

They walked outside into the fresh night air. It was still slightly warm from the remaining summer heat. Off in the distance, Lauretta saw a small cottage next to the forest with smoke puffing out from a chimney on the side and the glowing, golden light of a lantern.

"I think we should go over there," Mat said pointing at it.

"Alright," Lauretta said nervously.

Outside the cottage, a dog like creature and Hagrid stood waiting for them with a crossbow in one hand and a ratty pink umbrella in the other.

"They're yeh are. Where's James? 'e's sposed to be 'ere too!"

"He's coming… I think…" Lauretta responded.

"What are we doing exactly for detention?" Mat asked.

"We're goin' teh the Forbidden Forest. Got some business teh do. I'll explain it when James gets 'ere. Ah, 'ere 'e comes now."

James was just starting the walk down the short hill that led to Hagrid's cottage.

"Hurry up James! Gotta get teh the forest!" Hagrid yelled.

James jogged down the rest of the hill and stopped before them in a matter of seconds.

"Did you say we were going to the forest?" James asked.

"Yes I believe I did," Hagrid replied.

"The Forbidden Forest?"

"What other forest is near here?"

"YES!" James exclaimed excitedly.

"What do you mean 'yes'? It's the _Forbidden_ Forest. It's got to be forbidden for a reason, hasn't it?" Mat asked.

"Yep, and quite rightly so. Well, we better get goin'."

They followed Hagrid and Fang into the forest behind his cottage. Lauretta pulled out her wand as they got closer. She looked at it. It was a beautiful wand. 9 inches, silver maple and unicorn hair with a spiraled shaft. According to Mr. Ollivander, it was bendy and good for divination and charms.

"_Lumos_," Hagrid whispered lighting up the end of his umbrella and pulling Lauretta out of her thoughts. They all copied him lighting up their own wands.

"Now stay on the path. Dangerous creatures live aroun' here an I don't want anyone getting hurt or lost," Hagrid said as they began the trek, going deeper into the forest.

"Why are we going to the Forbidden Forest?" Mat asked again, his voice shaking slightly.

"Well according to some of the centaurs, a chimaera managed to get into the forest. Quite frankly, I 'ave no idea how it made it 'ere. They're not native to these parts. Well anyway, what we're going to do is find it an knock it out so it can be sent back home," Hagrid explained.

"We're going to track down a chimaera?" James asked.

"Yep," answered Hagrid.

"Merlin," Mat gulped.

"What's a chimaera?" asked Lauretta.

"You don't know?" Mat asked. She shook her head. "Well its basically a lion snake goat that breathes fire."

"Right," Hagrid said as he stopped at a fork in the trail. "So, I think we'll find it faster if we split up. You three go together and I'll go with Fang. If yeh run into trouble shoot red sparks into the sky and Fang an I'll come find yeh."

"And how do we do that?" asked James.

"Periculum. Now off yeh go!" Hagrid said.

They walked down one path in the fork and Hagrid walked down the other with Fang. Mat and Lauretta walked ahead of James. She stepped on a twig and flinched at the sound, grabbing Mat's arm.

"So you guys are still mad at me?" James asked breaking the silence.

"Did you hear something?" Lauretta asked Mat, her voice a little shaky.

"Nope nothing at all," Mat said, voice shaky as well.

"C'mon you guys. Pretending you can't hear me? It was just a harmless prank! And it's kinda your fault you're here. I mean you could've stopped me or you could've left before anything happened."

Lauretta turned around, shooting daggers at him and pointing her lit up wand in his face. Whatever fear she could have possibly had was gone and replaced with anger. A lot of anger at that. "Could've stopped you? Could've left while I had the chance? HA! I _TRIED_ JAMES! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THAT HAPPENED? I _TOLD_ YOU NOT TOO, BUT YOU DID ANYWAY! I _TOLD_ YOU I WAS LEAVING, BUT _YOU_ MADE ME STAY! AND IT'S _MY_ FAULT THAT I'M HERE?" she screamed.

"Hey, you said you were going to tell!" he responded defensively.

"I SAID THAT JUST TO SCARE YOU!" she shouted. "AND IT WOULDN'T HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE EVEN IF I DID! YOU STILL WOULD'VE ENDED UP HERE!"

"Oh so it's all my fault?" James said sarcastically.

"YES!" she screamed. "JAMES POTTER YOU ARE THE MOST STUBBORN PRAT I HAVE EVER MET! AND I'VE ONLY KNOWN YOU FOR TWO DAYS!"

"Hurtful!" he said with mock offense.

"_EXPELLIARMUS!_" she yelled. Nothing happened. "What? Why didn't it work? _Expelliarmus!_" she yelled again. Still nothing. "Why isn't it working?" she whined.

"I don't know. That's weird, it worked against a giant squid but not against James," Mat observed.

"_Expelliarmus!_" she yelled now out of annoyance. A few red sparks shot out of the end of her wand but that was it.

"Hah! Looks like you're quite the sorceress!" James sneered.

"I _HATE_ YOU POTTER!" she screamed turning away from him and stalking off angrily.

"You really made her mad," she heard Mat said to James.

"Your talking to me!" James said.

"Oh I am… Well bye," he said awkwardly, jogging away to catch up with Lauretta.

"Stupid James… Stupid fireworks…" she muttered under her breath.

"You okay?" Mat asked.

"No, I'm definitely not," she said with her fists balled up and shaking with fury.

"This detention really isn't _that_ bad."

"It's not the detention. It's the principle," she sliced back. "I wouldn't care if I had actually committed the act to be given one. I was trying to _stop_ him! And he accused us of being here on our _own fault! _That's offensive Mat."

"I know, I was there. But there's nothing you can do about it now," Mat said, surprisingly calm.

"But he won't even admit it was his fault!" Lauretta said, viciously.

"Once again, I know, I was there," Mat said.

"He's just so... so... UGH!" she screamed.

"Yep, that sounds like our James."

She didn't respond and kept walking, not bothering to flinch at a breaking twig or any other sounds she heard. Nothing much happened after that and Hagrid called them back around ten. The walked back to their dorms silently, too angry to speak and Lauretta fell asleep almost as soon as she hit the bed.

**-X-**

**A/N: Thank you for reading this far! Really means a lot to me! Know what else means a lot to me? Chocolate. Most amazing substance ever discovered. Oh and I guess reviews are cool too. **

**Sorry it's been a while since the last update. I started a new story that I hope to have up soon. It's called Hidden in the Moonlight. It takes place in the marauder era but that's all I'm going to tell you for now. Keep your eyes open for it! **

**I had fun creating the Menae:) I combined a Greek myth with some witch like thinking with my imagination and that's what I got. I also plan to have an opposite to them which is like their rival type thing called a Corybante at some point. Got some serious character development next chapter and I think I will have broken away from a possible Mary-Sue with its arrival :D Yayness!**


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